{"id":185111,"date":"2025-10-08T13:55:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T19:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=185111"},"modified":"2025-10-13T10:20:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T16:20:54","slug":"foreign-investments-in-us-housing-are-up-44-percent-year-over-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/foreign-investments-in-us-housing-are-up-44-percent-year-over-year","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Investors Flock to the U.S. Housing Market, Buying $56B Worth of Real Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

International interest in American real estate is up for the first time in eight years. <\/span>According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the number of properties purchased by foreigners <\/span>went up<\/span> 44% from April 2024 to March 2025, <\/span>even as<\/span> high mortgage rates and <\/span>increasing<\/span> housing prices have kept some Americans on the sidelines.<\/span> The dollar volume of these sales <\/span>hit<\/span> $56 billion, <\/span>up<\/span> 33% from the same period a year ago.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issues that are <\/span>keeping<\/span> domestic buyers <\/span>back<\/span> don\u2019t <\/span>seem<\/span> to be affecting foreign buyers.<\/span> So what<\/span> does this <\/span>say<\/span> about the market for U.S. investors?<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Foreigners Are Snapping Up American Homes <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are several reasons why foreigners might invest in the U.S. Often, it\u2019s because they see the U.S. as a stable place to invest compared to their home countries, Yuval Golan, CEO and founder of real estate financing platform Waltz, <\/span>said<\/span> in a conversation with BiggerPockets.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Golan\u2019s company <\/span>helps<\/span> foreign investors <\/span>purchase<\/span> U.S. homes.<\/span> In the first two quarters of 2025, 59% of the deals it closed were to <\/span>refinance<\/span><\/a>. This means many foreigners are looking to buy another property, said Golan.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsually, when people want to sell their properties, they don’t refinance,\u201d Golan said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the NAR, most buyers came from China <\/span>in<\/span> the April 2024 to March 2025 <\/span>period<\/span>, <\/span>at<\/span> 15% of foreign purchases, followed by Canada at 14% and Mexico at 8%.<\/span> India and the U.K. trail behind at 6% and 4%, according to data from the NAR.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Waltz, interest comes from countries like Israel, Mexico, Canada, and the UK, Golan said. Many buy property for a vacation home or for their children to live in when they study in the U.S. Others might buy properties as an investment.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the time, they are buying in markets that are already tight in supply and popular with domestic buyers <\/span>as well<\/span>, such as Florida, California, Texas, Arizona, and New York.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casey Gaddy, a senior agent at Keller Williams Realty, <\/span>said<\/span> in a conversation with BiggerPockets that while most foreign <\/span>investments involve luxury residential properties, there is interest in high-rise condos and single-family homes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome are investing as a hedge and means to park cash in what they consider a stable economy; others are purchasing secondary homes, while others are creating long-term rental pipelines for <\/span>passive income<\/span><\/a>,\u201d Gaddy said. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What This Means for American Investors <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While sales to non-U.S. buyers <\/span>only<\/span> account for 2.5% of the existing market, according to <\/span>the<\/span> NAR data, <\/span>it<\/span> can increase competition for Americans, wrote George Ellison, cofounder of Propbee and former real estate executive at Bank of America, in an email to BiggerPockets.<\/span> \u201cThat can make it harder for U.S. buyers to secure homes, since foreign buyers often come in with cash offers and fewer contingencies,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can put a strain on already tight markets, said Gaddy. \u201cWe all know the reality of tight inventory in many cities, and increasing demand from overseas can knock out first-time homebuyers,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But<\/span> overall, experts <\/span>see<\/span> the interest in American real estate as a <\/span>good thing<\/span>.<\/span> \u201cIf foreigners stop buying U.S. real estate, it means people don’t trust [the U.S. dollar], and it harms the economy. When foreigners buy in America, the USD retains its dominance,\u201d said Golan.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If foreign investors are still buying up property despite higher interest rates, it shows that \u201cthe fundamentals are strong,\u201d said Ellison.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInternational investors see U.S. housing as one of the most reliable places to put their money. It reflects confidence in long-term <\/span>appreciation <\/span><\/a>and rental demand, even if in the short term, it highlights affordability gaps for many Americans,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Thoughts<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While an increase in foreign purchases <\/span>might<\/span> cause competition in some areas <\/span>squeezed by supply<\/span>, the underlying reason for the <\/span>increase<\/span> is <\/span>a good one<\/span> for real estate investors.<\/span> All this foreign investment <\/span>indicates<\/span> that the U.S. housing market <\/span>is still<\/span> strong.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International interest in American real estate is up for the first time in eight years. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the number of properties purchased by foreigners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":613681,"featured_media":185107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-trends"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/613681"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}